


Roommate

by LeChatNoir1918



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: F/M, This is the most stressful thing I’ve ever done, for the flashfic challenge, roommate au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:14:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22410028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeChatNoir1918/pseuds/LeChatNoir1918
Summary: A roommate/modern AU.
Relationships: Phryne Fisher/Jack Robinson
Comments: 29
Kudos: 143
Collections: Miss Fisher's Flashfic Challenge Heat 3





	Roommate

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, titles. This is kind of a mess. I went back and forth between prompts and... should have taken a different approach to this whole thing because this did not turn out how I had intended 😂. Anyway I hope it's still somewhat enjoyable to read. (Ignore the typos that are probably all over, I literally hit post with about 10 seconds to spare)

Phryne stood in the doorway to the kitchen of their shared flat, coffee in hand, and watched Mac pack up her things.

“You know you could help me with these,” Mac noted, sweat beginning to form on her brow as she lifted the heavy pots and pans she would be taking with her and placed them into boxes.

“What, as a reward for leaving me all alone?” Phryne pouted and took another sip of her coffee. She was happy for Mac, she was, but the prospect of not having Mac around to talk to all the time bothered her more than it should have.

“Phryne Fisher, you are the least lonely person I know,” Mac admonished her with a sideways glare and Phryne shrugged. She did know how to find... company, in whichever form that company came in.

“Besides,” Mac continued,”we’ll still see each other all the time. And you can come over and visit Angela and I anytime.”

“Fine then,” Phryne sighed and pushed herself off of the doorframe, placing her cup on the counter before moving to assist Mac in her packing. Most of the items in their apartment belonged to Phryne but much of the cutlery and dishes Mac had contributed, since she was the one who cooked. She sighed again. With Mac gone she would either have to learn to cook for herself or there were many more nights of takeout ahead of her. There _was_ that cute delivery guy at her favorite Chinese place that she had been meaning to get better acquainted with.

“Have you given any thought as to who will replace me?” Mac asked, pulling Phryne out of her delivery guy daydreams.

“First of all, you, my dear, are irreplaceable,” Phryne smiled and nudged her friends shoulder with her own. “And secondly, I don’t think I want another roommate. Having you here was nice because you are my friend but sharing this space, _a bathroom_ , with a stranger is not really what I’m envisioning for myself at this point in my life.” She gave a small shudder at the thought and Mac grinned.

“Fair enough, heaven knows you can afford it,” she replied and Phryne gave a small hum of agreement. Her inheritance was about the only good thing to come out of her relationship with her parents but if it meant she could easily afford the flat on her own, Phryne wasn’t about to complain.

“However, if you’re willing to entertain the idea of at least temporarily having someone stay here...” Mac continued and Phryne raised an eyebrow as she waited for her to continue. “Angela has a friend who recently got divorced and needs a place to sleep for a few weeks before he can move into his new place.”

“He.” Phryne repeated after her friend. She hadn’t considered sharing her space with a man, now that she thought about it. She considered the new opportunity a little more before scrunching her nose. Men, in her experience, were messy and while she enjoyed the occasional, or frequent, night with them, she had purposefully avoided living with one until now.

“I’ve met him,” Mac continued on unperturbed. “He’s a bit reserved but very friendly. And clean by the looks of it. And in fact, were I to sway a certain way I might even find him attractive.”

That got Phryne’s attention, as had no doubt been her friend’s intention. Then she remembered the rest of what Mac had said about him.

“You said he’s recently divorced? I don’t need some sad man lurking around the flat, Mac.”

Her friend rolled her eyes at that and paused her packing to face Phryne fully. “He’s a good guy, Phryne. And he just needs a place to sleep for a few weeks.”

Phryne examined Mac’s face closely but all she could detect was sincerity. “Given that this man is a friend of your girlfriend’s, you’re advocating an awful lot for him,” she noted and Mac shrugged. “I like him, what can I say. And I think you’ll like him, too.”

***

Jack Robinson stood in front of the door to the chic flat and tried to calm his nerves. He felt a bit embarrassed to be in this position in the first place and while he appreciated that Angela’s girlfriend had arranged this meeting, he wasn’t sure what to think of the whole thing. The woman, Phryne, seemed nice enough, they had exchanged pleasantries over text before she had invited him to come by the flat so they could meet in person and he could have a look around. He gave himself a push and rang the doorbell, waiting a few moments before he heard high heeled shoes approaching from the other side.

The door swung open and Jack swallowed again as he took in the woman in front of him. She was wearing dark jeans and a white flowy blouse with a low neckline. Her dark hair fell softly to her shoulders, her lips painted red and her eyes... her eyes were busy doing their own sizing up. When their gazes finally met, Jack snapped out of whatever trance she had put him under and forced a smile onto his face, extending his hand towards her.

“I’m Jack. You must be...”

“Phryne.” She interrupted him with a smile of her own and Jack would have been remiss not to notice the pleasant sound of her voice and the smooth skin of her palm as they shook hands.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Jack rumbled after a moment and noticed that he was still holding on to her hand, dropping it with a slight cough as he felt himself blush.

“Come on in,” Phryne smiled, stepping aside to allow him into the flat.

***

It was almost midnight when Phryne shut the door behind Jack and wandered back into the kitchen to clean up their empty wine glasses. The past few hours had gone by in a flash. Jack had turned out to be excellent company and conversation had flowed easily between them, almost as if they’d known each other for years instead of hours. Phryne had told him about her travels, about her freelance work as a journalist, about how her friendship with Mac came to be and Jack had listened, before sharing tales of his own. Phryne couldn’t remember the last time she had been able to so easily talk with a man just for the sake of talking. They just... clicked.  
Phryne grabbed her phone and shot off a quick text to Mac.

_“I think it’ll work out.”_

_“Told you he was nice ;) xo”_

***

It took some getting used to, of course, for both of them. While Jack had lived with a woman before - he had been married after all- he had never lived with one he wasn’t in a relationship with. And as far as he had been able to determine, Phryne Fisher was not the relationship type. Not that he had thought about it, of course.

After a couple of weeks it became easier for him to ignore the bras flung haphazardly over the clothes line in the bathroom and while there were a few unfortunate incidents of him forgetting to lock the bathroom door, he rather found that he enjoyed their arrangement. Phryne was fascinating to talk to, always had more stories of her adventures and exciting tales to tell (he would, too, he supposed, if he had an inheritance) and many a night had consisted of them sitting on the sofa together, laughing about anything and everything.

Phryne, for her part, was surprised to see how well their arrangement was working for her. Not only was Jack nice to talk to, he was certainly nice to look at, a fact she further confirmed when she had caught a glimpse of his naked body after he had forgotten to lock the bathroom door. He had turned bright red and didn’t meet her eye for days after that incident. And in fact, while Phryne still went out and partied on the weekends, she found that she also enjoyed the nights she didn’t go out on the town.

As they came to know each other better and better, touches began to linger, they began sitting closer on the sofa, moments between them seemed to stretch forever. But Jack now knew that she didn’t do relationships and Phryne didn't want to jeopardize their friendship.

And then, all too soon, Jack announced that his new apartment would be ready soon.

“Oh,” was all Phryne could manage in response, poking her fork around in another one of his delicious meals. If he was surprised by her lack of enthusiasm, he didn’t show it and they ate the rest of their dinner in silence.

***

Phryne stood in the doorway, coffee in hand, watching Jack as he packed up his things.

“Here, let me help you with that,” she finally said, kneeling down next to him.

***

His things were all loaded into the truck and all that was left was him, about to head out of the door, out of her life.

“Phryne.”

“Jack.”

“Thank you for letting me stay here these past few weeks.”

“Of course,” she nodded solemnly, forcing a smile onto her face. Really, she was being ridiculous. This had always been a temporary arrangement. And now he was moving to the other side of town. As was his right.

A honk sounded from outside and after one last look at her, Jack was gone.

  
***

Jack Robinson stood in front of the now familiar door to the chic flat and tried to calm his nerves. He raised his hand and rang the doorbell, waiting for the familiar pattern of her steps to approach. The look of surprise on her face as she opened the door made him momentarily uncertain of his choice to come, but then a brilliant smile bloomed on her face as she stepped aside to let him in. Jack went through to the kitchen and set down the bottle of wine and the take out he had grabbed on the way to her place.

  
“I wouldn’t want you to starve, now that you don’t have anyone to cook for you,” he explained rather sheepishly as he turned around, and he felt a blush creep up his ears at the look of utter fondness on Phryne’s face.

“Thank you.” It was all that needed to be said.


End file.
